Chapter 508: Execution
The power of a musket is far greater than that of a bow and arrow. Although its accuracy is very poor, as long as it hits the target, slightly weaker armor will be almost useless.
It would be easy if they could ride a horse, and wearing a heavy breastplate would not be a big problem, but it would be too difficult for infantry.
Not everyone is a priest of the Temple of Silence who can wear hundreds of pounds of heavy armor and chase cavalrymen with a flail.
Therefore, not wearing armor in exchange for flexible and light movement became the final choice.
Since there is no armor, the musket in hand becomes more important.
These soldiers used the Empire's Ironthorn III musket, which had the advantages of simple structure, easy maintenance, good overall quality control, and was not prone to explosion if used correctly.
The disadvantage is that it is a bit too long. When it is placed on the ground with the butt facing down, the muzzle almost reaches the soldier's shoulder.
This makes reloading somewhat difficult, and this is when you are standing.
If you are lying on the ground, reloading becomes extremely difficult.
Gwen mounted his horse and shouted at the resistance troops to form a formation. They didn't have much time and only had time to deploy about a thousand people, twice as many as the opposing side.
——We can’t wait any longer. If we waste time gathering troops, it will be the same as losing the battle.
Soon the two sides were within visual range. The trumpeter on the opposite side blew the order, and the soldiers slowly formed into a team.
They gave up the front and did not completely block the resistance's advance. They very cleverly engaged the enemy from the side. In this way, if the resistance wanted to chase them, they would have to take a detour. At this moment, what the resistance lacked most was time.
"An infantry battalion. The Imperial Army's combat unit is basically a battalion. The larger 'regiment' is just an administrative organization, and the battalion is still the combat unit." Isaac explained quickly.
"They are not fully staffed. They look like regular troops. I don't know whose subordinates they are. Their training level is quite good. They are considered elite in the North."
"In the Rhine?" Gwen asked curiously.
Isaac sneered.
"It counts as filling the line."
The opposite side completed the formation change in a slightly chaotic manner, and lined up shoulder to shoulder. The drummer on one side beat the drum, and after the soldiers loaded their muskets, they walked forward to the beat of the drum.
"Oh, this is the classic tactic of the Imperial Army. They can only move forward without any cover. This is so classic that it can be included in textbooks." Eska squinted his eyes and looked at it for a while, then sighed.
Gwen also directed the soldiers to move forward. She was too busy now to ask questions, but she still cast a curious look.
"Look, they are standing very densely. This is the optimal formation that the Empire has tested in actual combat. Lord Hughes calls this 'queue shooting', which is quite descriptive. It is actually easier to get shot when they line up and march to the beat of the drums. If they are too close, they may interfere with each other. But it has one advantage -"
"Intensive firepower."
"There is a sentence in the Royal Army's Tactical Manual that I actually agree with: Any cost is insignificant in the face of firepower."
"It's easier to get shot if you stand together, but as long as you fire a barrage of bullets continuously to the beat of the drum, you can kill the enemy faster."
"The faster you kill, the fewer of your own people will die, so queuing up and shooting can actually effectively reduce casualties."
Gwen looked at the muskets on the opposite side with sudden realization. Although she had experienced many battles, they were all city defense battles. The coalition forces did not send out elite musketeers, and the resistance army actually lacked experience in this kind of combat on the plains.
For example, their queues were crooked, and there was more than one row - given the accuracy of the muskets, standing at the back was very likely to accidentally injure teammates, so no matter how many rows there were, only the first or second rows could shoot, but the enemy's bullets did not care whether you were in the front or back row.
This formation is only used against cavalry, but the enemy has no cavalry.
Gwen thought to herself that this was not good, but the battle was about to begin, and it would be even more dangerous to change the formation temporarily. Besides, the soldiers might not understand what she was thinking at the moment.
She had no choice but to instruct a few team leaders to maintain the formation as much as possible, and then nervously waited for the exchange of fire.
The soldiers were getting closer and closer, now approaching four hundred yards.
This distance is not enough to open fire, and the shooting hit rate is too low. The resistance soldiers are obviously getting nervous. They watch the enemy marching in unison to the sound of war drums and bagpipes. That sense of neat order is extremely oppressive.
Gwen, who was riding on a horse, saw it most clearly. There was already some panic among the resistance army. The ranks were becoming increasingly unaligned, and some people even tripped.
Even before the battle began, morale began to drop.
This won’t work!
Gwen bit her lip. The resistance army had been trained by Isaac, and this was the worst case scenario Isaac had told her about. If this continued, morale would completely collapse in just a few rounds of fire! They were less than 200 yards away.
Bang! The sudden gunshot startled her, and she turned around quickly, only to find Isaac holding a strange weapon and aiming carefully.
Bang, bang, bang, bang! He cranked the revolver, and gunshots rang out in a series. Gwen was a little confused. This should be the Gatling gun he mentioned.
She turned her head to look at the battlefield, and was shocked to find that with every gunshot, a cloud of blood exploded from the body of an officer or non-commissioned officer.
There is not much difference between the probability of being hit by line infantry tactics officers and soldiers, so officers often wear extremely conspicuous clothes to make it easier for soldiers to identify them and receive orders.
This greatly facilitates Isaac's aiming, as it is equivalent to the opponent directly marking the high-value targets for him, so he can just kill them one by one with a gun.
When Gwen looked over here in shock, Isaac had already started to put away the Gatling gun.
"We don't have many bullets, we can't waste them, the rest depends on you."
"This machine gun can actually aim? Oh my god, I mean, it can actually shoot as accurately as a bow and arrow, and the range is so long? Oh my god!"
She glanced at the Gatling gun reluctantly, but knew that now was not the right time, so she turned around, drew her sword, and rode forward.
"Resistance, follow me and charge forward to crush these enemies!"
The resistance soldiers responded to her loudly, not caring about the formation, raising their guns and firing, and then rushing forward.
The enemy on the opposite side was startled by Isaac's sudden killing and was in a panic, but the resistance army had already opened fire.
This shot was fired from a little distance, about a hundred yards, and the effect was mediocre, but they then rushed forward all at once.
The soldiers subconsciously looked at their chief officers, waiting for orders, but soon they found that almost all the officers had been killed.
In other words, the entire command system of this army was offline.
Suddenly, the entire army fell into chaos.
(End of this chapter)
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